Watch: Chimp Saved From Animal Testing Lab Reacts To Seeing the Sky for the First Time
The emotional footage of Vanilla the rescued chimpanzee settling in to her new sanctuary home and gazing at the sky in wonder has gone viral.
Vanilla the chimpanzee gazing at the sky in wonder. Credit: Save the Chimps
An animal sanctuary has shared moving footage of a rescued chimpanzee’s reaction to seeing the sky for the first time.
In the emotional clip, Vanilla the chimpanzee is shown gazing in wonder at the open sky after emerging from the inside enclosure of her new sanctuary home.
Initially apprehensive to explore the outside and leave the concrete enclosure, Vanilla is seen being encouraged by fellow chimpanzee Dwight, an alpha male who gives her a hug to welcome her to outside.
The touching footage captures the power of a second chance at happiness, with Vanilla originally bred for use in animal testing in the US.
At the now-closed Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates in New York, Vanilla was born in captivity and spent the first two years of her life kept inside a 5-foot-cage suspended from the ground, similar to a bird cage.
She was then transferred to the Wildlife Waystation in 1995, a refuge in California that kept the chimpanzees in a garage-sized enclosure with no view of the outside sky. When the Wildlife Waystation closed in 2019, over four hundred animals needed to be rehomed, including seven chimpanzees who eventually made the cross-country journey in 2022 to the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida, where they will now enjoy their retirement.
Vanilla at the sanctuary. Credit: Save the Chimps
As one of the largest chimpanzee sanctuaries in the world, Save the Chimps is home to over 220 chimpanzees who live on 12 separate 3 to 5-acre islands. All of the animals have been rescued from research laboratories, the pet trade, and the entertainment industry.
“She had never felt grass beneath her feet before”
Now 29-years-old, Vanilla has since undergone a quarantine process and has now been successfully integrated with one of the sanctuary’s large chimpanzee families. The family includes her sister, Shake, and together they share a 3-acre island of near-natural habitat.
An aerial view of some of the sanctuary’s islands. Credit: Save the Chimps
“She was just welcomed so warmly”, Dan Mathews, a director at the sanctuary told Mail Online. “And after all she's been through, with never being able to walk more than ten paces in any direction, to have this kind of freedom, she's just, she's thriving right now.”
To learn more about Save the Chimps and to donate to their work, visit their website.
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The footage was reportedly recorded at Marshall BioResources in North Rose, New York, where up to 22,000 dogs - mostly beagles - are being bred for animal experimentation.